Waiting for Santa

Santa at a local Christmas parade.

This time of year most of us are waiting for Santa. There are items on our wish lists that we hope to find under the Christmas Tree.

Even at my age, I still have a wish list. So what's on that list? Books, lots and lots of books, eBooks for my Kindle Fire and history books for my bookshelves. However, I have so many history books that I really need to add "Bookshelf" to my list too.

Will I get all those books on my wish list? Of course not, but I'll get a few even if I have to buy them myself.

Is there anything else on my Christmas list? Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. I love dark chocolate the best, but just about any kind of chocolate will do. Santa will most likely bring me a Whitman's Sampler and some Ghirardelli Chocolates.

Oh, and I'd like some fruitcake too. No, don't laugh, I'm one of those few people who actually loves fruitcake. When Santa comes to my house, that's one thing I always get. Yum!

Hmm! What else is on my list? CDs. I love music, particularly country music. Hunter Hayes' CD is one I'd love to have. But honestly, I'd be delighted with CDs by just about any country singer, including Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, Miranda Lambert, Alan Jackson, I could go on and on. Well, I'm pretty certain that Santa will bring me a CD or two or three.

Now back to those books I was talking about. Santa knows I need books and Christmas just isn't Christmas without books. I'd be perfectly content with an Amazon gift card (hint, hint, Santa I hope you're reading this).

If you're passionate about (addicted to) books like I am, then you might want to start an online wish list like mine at Amazon. I'm always adding books to the list, so it's always evolving. I read a variety of books: romances, historical fiction, literary fiction, history books. Believe me, my wish list of books is really really long.

Will Santa bring me any of those books on my list? Well, I can always hope so. But like I said, an Amazon gift card would be a perfect gift for me.

I'm no longer a kid, but hey, I'm still anxiously waiting for Santa. I hope you are too.

It's All About The Bling

Pink cowboy boots with bling.

When it comes right down to it, it is all about the bling - the glitz, glitter, sparkle - that makes the world turn. We dream about riches. We admire and want to emulate the richest of the rich. Or do we?

Certainly we're drawn to things that glitter - like diamonds, gold and pink cowboy boots with bling.

Last Friday when I went to the Navarre Beach Sand Sculpture Festival, I saw these awesome sparkly, glittery cowboy boots. They weren't in my size or they might have come home with me. It's not like I need to add any more bling in my life. At my age, not too terribly old, but certainly not young, I wouldn't have any need for boots with bling. It's just that, well, heck, those boots were really cool.





More cowboy boots with bling.

The vendor, Blingy Boutique, had blingy boots in other colors too, but there was something about the pink blingy ones that really caught my eye. If I was younger, much younger, I would have been determined to get those boots.

You see, I used to country dance, Two-Step and Cotton-Eye-Joe, at least a couple nights a week. I was in my 20s then and dancing was something I just had to do. I can't think of a more fun way to exercise. Not to mention, those Whiskey Sours tasted pretty darn good.

Now I just listen to country music on the radio and remember what fun I had dancing through the night all those many years ago.





Blingy Boutique, a vendor at the Sand Sculpture Festival.

Now back to the bling, glitz, glitter, sparkle thing. I love diamonds, rubies and gold, so I haven't outgrown all that bling, not yet anyway. I still stop and admire those sparkly, glittery, blingy shoes, clothes and jewelry that adorn magazines and store windows at the mall. Sometimes, just sometimes mind you, I even dream about all that bling.

For now, I'll just settle for writing this blog post about bling. Bling is awesome and we all want some of it every now and then.




That said, I managed to find some cool books, both fiction and non-fiction, that are all about the bling, glitz, glitter and sparkle that we love. So here are those books, in no particular order. No, I haven't read any of these, but they all sounded like books I'd probably enjoy. Another plus, all of these are available in eBook format.

Fiction with Bling, Glitz, Glitter, Sparkle:

Dallas Glitz by D. G. Green
All That Glitters by Heather Ames
Fool's Bling by Nadine Blyseth
All That Glitters by Marguerite Herron
A Key To All That Glitters by Kathleen Rowland
All That Glitters by Anna Grace
Baby Bling by Elle James
Glitz by Elmore Leonard
Beneath the Glitter by Elle & Blair Fowler
The Glitter Dome by Joseph Wambaugh
Bling, Bling by David DeLee
All That Glitters Is Not Gold (A St. Simons Love Story) by Carol Ashmore
Not All Stars Sparkle by Carys Jones
All That Glitters (Inside Girl) by J. Minter (YA)
Glitter by Kate Maryon (YA)
All That Glitters by Elizabeth McCoy

Non-Fiction with Bling, Glitz, Glitter, Sparkle:

The Big-Ass Book of Bling by Mark Montano
Sparkle by Mara Altman
Glitz, Glamour, Style (A Fashionista's Journey) by Jacquie A. Bennett
The Glitter and Gold by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
Letting Go of the Glitz by Julia Stephenson
Create Your Own Bling by Ilene Branowitz
Sparkle: The Girl's Guide to Living a Deliciously Dazzling...Kick-Ass Life by Cara Alwill Leyba

I don't know about you, but I'm going to take a nap and dream about bling.